For many Costco shoppers, the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi and Costco Anywhere Visa Business Card by Citi have both long offered free extended warranty protection. As noted by The Points Guy, this even added 24 months to manufacturers’ warranties, up to a seven-year total coverage limit. Many customers who currently have a Citi credit card are sharing notices they’ve received on social media that Citi is, as the travel site writes, “removing the extended warranty benefit from these credit cards in early 2023.” Here’s everything we know:
ForksTalk Newswatch: Citi Removes Important Benefit From Costco Credit Card: If you have the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi in your wallet, you’re about to lose an important cardholder benefit.
Team Clark has confirmed with a Citi representative… https://t.co/QyJmf14sr8 pic.twitter.com/3BLdqxVz5m
— ForksTalk (@TalkForks) November 12, 2022
What is extended warranty protection?
Extended warranty protection, according to The Points Guy, adds “time to a qualifying warranty, giving you more time to enjoy protection on your valuable purchases.” This benefit (which will soon disappear for those of us with a Costco Citi credit card) can “help to cover the costs of repairing or replacing an item when you’ve purchased it with a credit card that offers extended warranty protection.” Depending on the card you use, the site continues, you can add an “extra year or two to the length of your warranty.” Extended warranty protection adds time to a qualifying warranty, which ultimately gives you “more time to enjoy protection on your valuable purchases.”
I am surprised @Costco didn’t strike an ironclad deal with @Citi when doing the 10 year card deal. The Costco credit card doesn’t offer anything of value you can’t get from another card. @SamsClub card has 5% back on gas. https://t.co/nq8f37HmGP
— Joshua Stan (@fintechjosh) November 10, 2022
When will this benefit end?
Many Reddit users have noticed, as The Street points out, this benefit will come to a close for both cards on “January 22nd of next year.” Any Costco purchases that qualify for the extended warranty made before that date will still get the warranty, the publication notes, but that “won’t be the case for anything purchased” after January 22nd. However, if you purchased an item from Costco several years ago, your warranty “still stands.”
Hi there! To ensure the matter is properly addressed, please send us a DM and confirm your credit card account type (ie: Double Cash Card, Government Travel Card, ThankYou Preferred, Best Buy, Costco, etc.) and country opened in (no accounts or PINs). ^Maria https://t.co/gvC4jAOA9c
— Ask Citi (@AskCiti) November 6, 2022
In a memo that recently appeared on Reddit, (and that The Street notes you can also find if you log into your Citi account), the company wrote that “We are making these changes so that we can continue providing the key benefits that our customers use and value most at no additional cost.” While it is unclear why the benefit is ending, the outlet writes that the most likely reason is “budgetary cuts due to inflation or other economic pressures.”
